Little Acts
by Eclissy
Summary: After the skirmish at the docks, Ruby's preparing to get back to classes but one late explosive run in with Roman Torchwick manages to give both of them new perspectives on each other. And really, all it took was a few little actions. (Set after Black and White but before Best Day Ever)
1. Chapter 1

In a week, lessons were going to start back up and Ruby was going to make sure that the day before classes was going to be jammed packed with awesome. It was going to be so awesome that it would balance out an entire half a year of dull lectures and Prof Port's boring stories-though one in five were pretty okay. You had to give the big PP a little credit—and her team was going to love it!

But sadly, Ruby wasn't going to be able to pack absolutely everything awesome in that day's agenda.

The best place in town for midnight munchies was going to be closed down. Not for renovations or for a vacation. It was going to be closed down for _forever._

Right when she heard Moonlit Bonbons were going "Bon Voyage" to town, Ruby tried to drag her team mates over as fast as she could but bad luck was tripping her up. Yang and Blake were s _omewhere_ doing _something_ and Weiss was being Weiss-ier than usual.

"Not in the mood, Ruby," Weiss had said, seated on her mattress. She was crossing her arms and looking away from her partner to glare crossly at an innocent wall. "Plus, isn't that place literally on the other end of town? I'm not walking all the way there just for some hard candy."

"Oh but Weiss please!" Ruby whined, tugging on the other girl's arm. "They're pretty, cute, tasty, and glitter! They're like tiny delicious stars. Come on! This could be the last time you'll get the chance to try!"

"I said no!" Weiss yanked her arm away from Ruby, making her stumble backwards.

Dejected and wondering if she really had pestered Weiss to much, Ruby bowed her head.

"Ah…sorry."

"Look—" Weiss began, noticing the shift in Ruby's mood. Pressing her lips together for a moment as her phone vibrated again in her back pocket, Weiss took out her wallet. "If you want me to try it so bad, here." Stuffing a wad of money into Ruby's hands, Weiss re-crossed her arms. "I'm too tired to go so just buy as much as you want and _maybe_ I'll have a bite…what? What's with that look on your face?"

"Awww, Weiss!" Ruby squeezed her partner into a hug and Weiss couldn't do much but groan in annoyance and hide her blush. "Don't worry! With all of this plus my savings, we'll have enough for a lifetime!"

"Well, then just go already! You can't get us a lifetime supply if you're late!" Weiss sighed, feeling a bit better now that Ruby was happy again.

"Oh right! Thank you! Gotta go! Bye! See you later!" Ruby said before speeding off campus, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her.

She didn't slow down once her entire trip to that candy but once she did, Ruby bent over and started panting from exhaustion. Weiss hadn't been wrong. This place was really out of the way. In fact, it was so out of the way that it looked practically deserted. The empty streets under the evening sky was a little spooky.

But when did anything like that ever bother Ruby?

Satisfied that she had made good time, Ruby began to walk towards a small corner store. The sign didn't have any lights but the moonlight reflected off of the silver lettering and Ruby found enough energy to jog towards it.

Bursting through the door, Ruby shouted with glee, making all of the jars of candies on the shelves shake.

"Made it!"

The shopkeeper screamed and went to duck under the counter.

"Oh whoops!" Ruby clapped her hands over her mouth. In a much quieter voice, she apologized. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Wh-who's there?" The shopkeeper looked over the counter, tugging her beanie down snuggly over her head. Seeing that it was only the cute girl in the red hood, the shopkeeper let out a slow shaky sigh and stood back up. "Come for the last day of business, huh? You're in luck! I was just about to close shop but for you, a couple of minutes won't hurt."

"Yes!" Ruby made a small fist pump and made her way to the cash register. "Don't worry. I'll be quick!"

Ruby hummed contently, shoveling scoop after scoop of goodies from the closest jars into the little clear baggies.

"I'm going to miss that." The shopkeeper said, watching Ruby marvel at the gold star shaped mango bits. "I love it when people smile that big for the things I make."

"Of course they smile!" Ruby exclaimed, tightly holding a bunch of candy bags under one arm. "They're all delicious and I'm going to miss them to death when you're gone," She continued, trying not to sound sad. "Where are you going anyways? Did you strike it big? I mean, being the master that you are, did some big shot strike a big deal with you?"

"I…I wish that could have been the case," Touching her beanie, the shopkeeper smiled sadly. "Some problems came up and I have to move. That's all." The sides of the shopkeeper's mouth tugged up in a small smile when Ruby tried to lean over the counter to grab another jar. She ended up tumbling over and falling behind the counter instead.

Laughing, the shopkeeper knelt to help Ruby back up.

"Sorry," Ruby smiled, embarrassed. Man, she was apologizing a lot today. "And did you say problems? Is it money problems? I can't believe you'd have money problems!"

"Oh uh, it's actually not money that's the problem—"The shopkeeper paused, hearing the shop's door open. "Hello? How can I help…you…"

Ruby tried to stand up with the shopkeeper but they quickly shoved her back down. She fell back, looking up at the shopkeeper in confusion but the fear in her eyes was telling.

'Don't move,' the shopkeeper mouthed before turning her gaze straight ahead.

"So this is your cute little hide-away," A voice teased and Ruby recognized the mocking tone immediately.

That jeering mightier-than-thou voice had his image, jacket and bowler hat and all, tacked right on to it.

"Torchwick." Ruby whispered, pressing herself against the back of the counter as much as possible. Judging from the sound of the footsteps clacking against the floor, either Torchwick was tapping his foot really fast or he had some henchmen with him.

Touching her chest and remembering the shot Torchwick had fired at her at the docks, Ruby grimaced. Crescent Moon was on her back but the space behind the counter was too cramped. Torchwick's weapon was smaller, giving him another advantage on top of the greater numbers he had on Ruby.

But he didn't know she was here yet. Surprise, at the least, was on her side.

"What are you doing here?" The shopkeeper audibly growled, glaring at Torchwick and his men. Ruby could hear him getting closer.

"That's what I was going to ask actually," Torchwick replied, twirling his cane. "Just what are you doing here? Packing up shop, packing your bags, and catching a ride to who knows where? Knowing your kind—" Torchwick used his cane to knock the shopkeeper's hat off of their head, revealing her mouse ears. "—I would have thought you'd just dig a little hole and hide there."

Both the shopkeeper and Ruby scowled but it was only the shopkeeper that was shaking with fear.

"Do you know how many of you animals are turning tail and running?" Torchwick asked, getting no answer. "More than enough to spread my men out so thin that I actually had to actually go out and round some of you up myself. I can barely keep track of how many little rats are scampering off on top of shaking down every corner store for dust."

Judging by the distance of his voice, Ruby could picture him and his annoyed grimace right in front of the shopkeeper. The moment he gets close enough…

"So now, what are we going to do with our flighty little mouse? Hmm?" Torchwick asked, jabbing the end of his cane at the shopkeeper. Flinching at the weapon pressed against her chin, she leaned back ever so slightly and Ruby jumped up and grabbed the end of the cane.

"What—" Torchwick managed before Ruby wrenched the cane back, pulling him over the counter along with it. His men tried to get their weapons ready to retaliate but Ruby was already on the counter, having wrestled Torchwick into a chokehold with his back forced against her front.

Now that she had enough elbow room, Ruby reached back with her free hand to brandish Crescent Moon. The scythe unfolded and she held the curved blade under Torchwick's chin.

"Red! What an absolutely wonderful coincidence. With some déjà vu to boot," Torchwick said with a lethal amount of sarcasm, glaring down at the scythe. "You and your team keep running into me oh so very much, I'm beginning to wonder if the whole team thing is a cover and you all just came together to make a Torchwick fanclub," The blade pressed harder against the skin of his neck. "A very _zealous_ fanclub."

"Oh dream on, Torchwick," Ruby scoffed, keeping her eyes trained on the henchmen. There were only three that she could see and maybe a few more outside on watch. She could possibly overpower them but with how isolated this place was, help might not come fast enough if she called. Apprehending Torchwick and all of his henchmen may have been close to out of the question but Ruby knew she could help the shop's owner.

"You can't do it, Red," Torchwick taunted Ruby, clutching at the arm keeping his neck trapped. "Can an adorable little poppy like you really rip a handsome head clean off such a nice a body? Red, if that can make _me_ queasy, there's no way you can even try."

Hesitating for a moment, Ruby swallowed before she spoke up.

"No one move or else…Or else, I might accidentally freak out and cut his head off!" Ruby threatened. "Then there's going to be a really gross mess, all the candy's going to be ruined, and no one's going to be happy."

Glancing back at Ruby, Torchwick let out a short annoyed groan. She had him there.

"Right right, boys? Back off for a moment and let little Red have her fun," Torchwick ordered his men and reluctantly, they complied.

Not actually having planned that far ahead, Ruby darted her eyes around the room and tried to figure out where to go from there.

"Uhh, all of you!" She shouted suddenly, making Torchwick wince. "Um, is there anyone else outside?"

Two of the henchmen shoot their heads and the last one nodded. Torchwick made a note to himself to put that one down personally.

"Okay! Uh!" Ruby cast a glance over to the shopkeeper. This really was going to work! "I can hold these guys so don't worry. Just get the phone, call for some help, and tell them the address and how many people are here. Everything will be fine, I promise!"

The shopkeeper rushed over to the phone plugged into the wall and promptly ripped its cord out of the outlet.

"What the—Why?" Ruby gaped as the shopkeeper smashed the phone on to the ground. Torchwick couldn't help but laugh at the surprise on Ruby's face.

"Red? What's wrong?" Torchwick asked with feigned concern, thrashing under Ruby's hold to test her tight grip. "I thought you were a huntress. Aren't hunters and huntresses supposed to keep the peace? Stop vicious criminals like me and—" He grinned at the faunus. "—That dirty rat? The White Fang haven't been that kind to your lot, haven't they? It wouldn't be fair to lock me away and let her go scampering into the woods."

"Were you after me too?" The shopkeeper kept her head down but Ruby could see the slight shiver in her shoulders. "I thought you were just a customer but you were tailing me the whole time?"

"Wait wait, this was a whole misunderstanding!" Ruby tried to calm the situation down but her flustered voice wasn't helping things. "I had no idea you were a faunus! I didn't even know your full name or even what color you liked. Not even your favorite food!"

"Cecilia Dormouse, surprise surprise there, the color purple, and come on. It's probably cheese,"Torchwick filled in the blanks for Ruby, attempting again to slip out of Ruby's hard hold. "Now that you know, what are you going to do, Red?"

"She's going to do nothing." The faunus took out a matchbox, lit one of the matches and held it in front of her for everyone to see. It wasn't clear what she was about to do until she pulled something out of her back pocket that ruby hoped was just a weirdly shaped sausage.

"Oh! Oh…Oh boy," Torchwick's smile fell so hard into a frown that it just about cracked his face. "I knew you were serious about escaping but I didn't think the afterlife was a getaway option. Whoo boy, Red. Do your nice girl thing."

"Wha-whaaat?" Ruby began to stammer, her heart thundering in her chest as she stared at the now lit explosive in Cecilia's jittery hands. "Cecilia? Cecilia, right?"

The faunus didn't answer.

"Yes, I am a huntress but I wasn't here to catch you!"

Still no answer. Torchwick's henchmen were getting antsy. One raised his weapon but his boss' death glare pushed it back down.

"The first thing I'm worried about is your safety, so please. Don't do this. It doesn't matter if you were part of the White Fang or not. Me and the others, we'll definitely help you!"

"You should listen to her. I don't think this girl could lie without getting spasms." Torchwick added and Ruby squeezed his neck and quickly told him to shush.

"I've been pushed around by the human authorities all my life. And when I thought the White Fang could help me, they shoved me around too. I'm done being afraid and I'm done taking orders!" Cecilia looked up at them with red rimmed eyes. "And if I can save even just some of my faunus brothers and sisters from that _monster,_ I'll have already accomplished more than enough with my life."

"They smile for you too, right? You're faunus friends? The other people who come to the shop?" Ruby shouted, grabbing back Cecilia's attention. It was honestly really difficult to talk someone out of violence when Ruby had been forced into threatening violence with someone else. The awkward pose with Torchwick and Crescent moon wasn't helping at all. "You can't just give up on that. How many people are going to be devastated to lose you? I was already so sad to see you leave. Please, put that away."

The faunus' grip on the explosive loosened but that thing had been lit for too long in Torchwick's opinion. Noticing that Ruby's hope had distracted her, he threw his head back and slammed it against Ruby's chin. The shock of the bump stunned her and in that time, Torchwick grabbed for his fallen cane, knowing he could shoot that damn animal before they were all blown sky high.

One of his henchmen had the same idea and acted faster. They just didn't execute it as well as he could have. They aimed at Cecilia's hand and with flawless precision, shot the explosive out of her hand and sent it flying towards Torchwick and Ruby.

"You idiot!" Torchwick shouted but it was too late. The thing fell at his feet and exploded. The flash blinded him and the heat of the explosion burned against his face. Faintly, he could feel himself flying backwards but there was something quite odd about this fiery death.

The burning really didn't hurt all that much and the red in his face felt soft rather than the usual searing pain. And that faint scent of flowers; Torchwick really didn't think a guy like him would go to a nice place when he died.

On Ruby's side of things, her panic was only beaten back by her desire to help others. Even if it was Torchwick that she was shielding and using her semblance to propel behind the counter, away from the blast.

Gripping him tightly once more, Ruby blindly threw them both against the back wall and it crumbled, letting them fall into the dark.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Here I am, starting a new series when I just started one before. Well, this ship has been on my mind since forever and Yashiosan (please check out her tumblr!) and her art are wonderful! They fueled the ideas in my garbage head until finally, there was enough to do a sort of AU.**

 **There isn't really any shippy stuff in this chapter but it was really more of an introductory thing (and something to help me test out how I write these characters). Anyways, I hope that was okay and that maybe I'll get to sending out the next chapter soon! (This was a lot longer than I expected).**

 **Another thing to note...So this was made on a whim again I have a bunch of scenes but stringing them together is going to be something alright. Also, let's be real. Ruby is 15 Roman is probably 20 or 21 at the very least and I am garbage and acknowledge that. Like seriously it's probably a really really unhealthy pairing but here I am DOING THIS ANYWAY BECAUSE I AM ROSEWICK TRASH.**


	2. Chapter 2

That mouse really did dig a hole.

Instead of fleeing on a train or a bus like the others, Cecilia had decided she would take the safest, and most tedious, route; disappearing through a homemade cavern and leaving town through there.

Well, Torchwick was hoping that the mouse had been planning on leaving through an exit somewhere. The other option for Cecilia was to sit in this hole until everyone decided that she had died but having woken up to this pitch black hell, Torchwick knew he wasn't ready to be trapped there for that long.

"Uugh." He groaned, rubbing the dust and dirt from his eyes, not that it really helped with seeing where he actually was. Looking on the bright side of things was going to be hard but hey, he may have made a bunch of tactical retreats more than a few times in his life but he still tried first.

Right, wherever he had fallen into the cave from had been sealed by fallen debris. That was bad. Even worse, that entrance was likely a good distance above him considering his back felt like it had plummeted a hundred feet. But he was breathing. That was good. Nothing felt like it hurt. Even better. Then, he tried moving his legs and oh it hurt. It hurt a lot.

"Damn!" Torchwick grimaced, finding he could barely move it either. The rubble from the blast had fallen and crushed his leg.

Forgetting about that unfortunate circumstance for the time being, Torchwick checked his other limbs for damage.

Both of his arms were sore but he could move them well enough to check for anything wrong with his face. He found nothing, of course. His face was a bit scuffed up but otherwise, it was perfect like he knew it always was.

Next, he tried to sit up and found that something was weighing his chest down, literally.

Torchwick reached down to feel if the rock or piece of rubble that fell on him to see if he could move it. The rock was an oddly soft one, though that would help explain why his ribs weren't in pieces. Still, rocks usually weren't soft. They didn't breathe or smell like flowers either. In fact, why was Roman asking himself all of this when he should be shoving this brat off of him?

"Gah!" Ruby cried out, being jostled out of her impromptu nap by the rough handling. Her cheek met with the cold gravely ground and she instantly sat bolt upright. "Where am I? Am I late? Weiss? Why didn't you turn the light on yet? We're going to be late for Sunday!"

"Calm down, Red," Torchwick winced, Ruby's sudden shout sharpening the already painful headache he had. "Or you know what? Panic. Panic more please. Panic enough for the both of us because really, I'm too tired to care just yet."

Taking out his lighter, Torchwick flicked it open and a flame lit up. The orange glow let him see a few inches farther than the space directly in front of his face. He could only make out the faint outlines of the rest but the glint of Ruby's scythe was unmissable but his own weapon was nowhere to be seen.

"Nnnn?" Ruby rubbed her head, instinctively hugging Crescent Rose close to her. "Weiss…she wasn't here. She stayed behind and…that thing exploded, I grabbed you, jumped away and…how did we end up in a cave?"

Roman frowned harder for a moment, touching his unburned face while Ruby looked through the rubble around her. She was pushing and rolling rocks aside but Torchwick was more worried about his maimed limb than whatever trash Ruby lost in the rubble.

"That explains one thing," He tsked, mortified that he had to get his rear saved by some over peppy poppy. "No wonder that mousey dunce picked the dumpiest place in town to set up shop." He kicked at a stray pebble with his free foot. "The runaway dug a hole to skedaddle and I just had to end up getting stuck in here with—hey, what are you doing?" Torchwick narrowed his eyes as Ruby stood and approached him.

They were completely isolated; Ruby's teammates weren't there and Roman's men had either ran or exploded into crispy pieces. The last time he had seen Ruby, Torchwick had fired a shot at her and sent her flying. That couldn't have been fun…for Ruby. Torchwick had a _lot_ of fun back there but now, he was practically helpless.

Plus, even the most polished upstanding citizens of Remnant could be absolute _freaks_ in the dark. Roman knew from experience but he had no idea if Ruby could actually be so spiteful.

With that being said, Roman knew that if he was in her place, he would have snatched up this chance to break the guy who wrecked him, starting from the kneecaps and slowly working his way up. The fact that Ruby hadn't set down her scythe started got Roman thinking. Maybe they might not have been so different.

"Hey, Red?" Roman began, tripping over his words somewhat. "Remember that time on the docks. And that time just a few minutes ago? Wow, I was so much in the wrong there. That was a huge mistake and I'm…ha…" Torchwick started to string panicked small talk together, watching as Ruby raised her scythe. The shadows hid her expression and Roman flinched away, shielding his face with his arm.

Ruby drew her weapon down at Torchwick, sticking the end of its handle under the rock that trapped his injured leg.

"Ah!" Torchwick let out a startled cross between a shout and a squeak. Noticing that his head wasn't flying off of his neck and bouncing off of the cave wall, he looked down at his leg. The half-sized huntress had rested the midsection of her weapon on another rock, trying to use leverage to remove the boulder in the gentlest way she could manage.

"Oops! Did that hurt?" Ruby glanced up at him, worried.

Roman was back to frowning again, humiliated that he had really thought someone like Ruby was going to murder him in cold blood _and_ annoyed by how Ruby didn't even give him some warning first.

Even worse, she was looking at him with her wide silver eyes, filled with concern. Roman wanted to say that it was the most disgusting look anyone had ever given him but that felt like he was lying to himself.

That made zero sense to Roman.

"No." Torchwick said finally, distracting himself with the real concern at hand.

Getting her answer, Ruby went back to freeing Roman's leg.

"Tell me if it starts to hurt er…well, tell me if it starts to hurt more." Ruby said. She could have easily rolled the rock off using just her bare hands but that would have mangled Roman's leg more than it already was.

Carefully, she pushed down on the bladed end of Crescent Rose and the big piece of rubble was lifted from Roman's leg little by little. The thief had to make himself hold back some pained grunts but by the time the rock was safely removed, he had only dug shallow indents into his palms with his nails.

"Huh, that could have been worse," Roman muttered, rubbing his throbbing temple. "I suppose you'd like a thank you?" He opened his eyes but Ruby was too busy inspecting his leg to answer.

"Yeeouch," Ruby wrinkled her nose at the mess she was looking at. "You really _really_ shouldn't be walking like this. And there's nothing to use as a splint either." As she fussed over him, Roman struggled to make sense of this perky idiot and the big bruise spreading across her chin.

"Do you treat all of your enemies like this or am I special?" Roman interrupted, snapping Ruby's attention back to him.

"Pffft, nah," Ruby managed a grin, flicking her wrist like she was slapping Roman's question out of the air. Though Torchwick was fully expecting that answer, it had burned him more than that explosion would have, much to his confused irritation. "I think everyone should be treated right, even if they happen to be wanted criminals."

"Excuse me? I am _the_ _most_ wanted criminal," Roman argued as Ruby folded up her weapon and moved to his side. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"It doesn't look like you'll be able to walk so—" Ruby slung Torchwick's arm over her shoulder but the thief yanked his arm back. "Please don't make me watch you crawl out of here. I'm really bad with second hand embarrassment."

Roman scowled at Ruby but then he weighed his options. Crawling was a lot more humiliating than having a red dwarf help him limp out. With some grumbled complaints, Roman let Ruby take his arm, place it around her shoulder, and help him up.

Without a word, Torchwick held up his lighter and they began to walk.

As Ruby helped Roman hobble through the claustrophobic cave, both became silent.

Small talk wasn't exactly appropriate for this kind of situation and with how they were pressed up against each other, the last thing either of them wanted was to make the mistake of mentioning that unpleasant fact.

Actually, that wasn't true.

Despite the large gap between their heights, Torchwick found that leaning on Ruby's shoulder was comfy and being so close to her masked the dank musty cave smell. Subconsciously, Roman hugged himself closer to the huntress but quickly caught himself figuratively and literally.

"Woah!" Ruby helped keep Roman upright when he slipped up his footing. "Uh maybe this won't work."

"Alright, let me just sprint all the way to a jail cell. Would that make you happy?" Torchwick shot at her, clenching his teeth from the sharp pain in his leg. If he had his cane with him, that would have made it a little bit less tedious but it was probably in pieces under a bunch of rocks now.

Mulling over that bothersome fact distracted Roman long enough for Ruby to make her move.

Lowering herself, Ruby swept Roman off of his feet and into her arms. It took a couple of beats for him to realize he was getting toted around bridal style. The girl had went back to walking down the path without saying a word about the new arrangement but Torchwick wasn't about to let it go.

"Trying to break my spirit, are you? You're a lot more devious than I thought, Red." Roman glowered, a little red in the face himself.

"Ookay, I don't think it's going to feel better but I could carry you over my shoulder." Ruby suggested, about to do just that but Roman quickly wrapped his arm around her neck, hugging himself to her to keep from moving.

"I'm not a sack of flour," He replied, bumping his head slightly against the side of Ruby's face. It stung her chin and she flinched away but Roman quickly noticed something. "My hat," He touched the top of his head and Ruby had to lean back to avoid the flame from the lighter he still had pinched between his fingers. Feeling only his own messy tuffs of hair, Roman let his arm fall limply at his side. "Great, my leg's broken, my cane's gone, you're going to chuck me into the nearest steel box, and worst of all, I look like a disaster."

"Uhhhh…" Ruby trailed off, glancing awkwardly at the wall as she continued to move. She really hoped that they were going to find the exit soon. Geez, Cecilia sure was good at digging.

"What? You have something to say about it?" Torchwick leered up at Ruby, completely aware that she could bump his injured leg against something if she wanted.

Ruby wasn't that good at talking to people she hardly knew despite the fact that she was getting better at that. Oh, but it was a whole other story when it came to small talk with enemies. There wasn't any chapter on that in any book and it felt weird to just go silent after a direct question. Dang these complicated social niceties.

So when all else came up blank, Ruby decided to go with exactly what she was thinking.

"You don't look like a disaster," Ruby tried, earning one raised unconvinced brow from Torchwick. "I mean, even if you're a bit scratched up, you still look pretty."

"Pretty?" The word caught Roman off guard and he widened his eyes. "If you're trying to get me to shut up, you should have called me handsome."

"Uhh hmm, but it's what I really think." Ruby shrugged and decided to leave it there. Of course, Roman was having none of that.

"Come on, Red. Don't leave it there." Torchwich said, flicking the cap back on to the lighter, snuffing out the flame.

"What are you doing?" Ruby stopped abruptly, nearly dropping Roman but he didn't seem to care.

"You know me well enough," Roman relit the lighter and quickly put it out again. "Two little trysts is enough for you to know how much I like me. So go ahead, Red. Tell me why I'm pretty."

"You're kidding right?" Ruby asked, having no idea what a tryst was.

"Nope." The light went on and off again.

Ruby really hoped that this wasn't how Weiss felt about her when she got uppity sometimes.

Now, how to go about this in the least direct and embarrassing way possible.

"Roman candles." Ruby stated and this time, Roman kept the lighter lit.

"What a lovely name for some lovely fireworks," Roman nodded. "Let me guess. I remind you of them?"

"When I was little, my sister and I used to sneak out at night and light a few up," Ruby continued with a harmless story, hoping that Roman would be interested enough to not put them back in the dark. "Dad got a few as souvenirs from the other kingdoms. Technically, they were illegal where we lived so we had to keep it a secret. But they were so pretty when they sparked. Yang told me that it was dangerous but I couldn't help but hold them when we lit them." She may have been getting ahead of herself but what was Roman going to do with these tidbits anyways?

"Aren't those the ones that really burn if you don't handle them right? And you held one right in front of your face?"

"Eh, couldn't help it. And I'm fine. So it's fine!" Ruby said, curtly but not dismissively.

"Hm, so it's my name that gets you thinking about those." Roman wondered out loud, disappointed at the bland comparison. If he could've reached them, Torchwick would be taking a drag of a cigar right about then.

"Your hair's orange instead of the sparkly yellow but it's still warm and bright. That's like the sparks. Yang told me not to stop trying to touch them," That jerked Roman's attention back and he watched as Ruby talked. "And you aren't a very nice person but you have nice green eyes. We had fireworks with almost the same color. I felt like I could watch them forever." Ruby smiled as she stated those facts, not knowing the connotation she was giving and especially not knowing how it shook Roman's chest.

It struck Torchwick how incredibly oblivious this girl was. It would have been exceptionally irritating if the straightforward sincerity in it all hadn't caught him in a warm chokehold.

Roman didn't want it to stay that way, or at least, he didn't want it to be just him that was bothered. In any other case, this would have been a major problem but the fact that he could come up with so many things to say about Ruby was sound for this very moment.

For what seemed like a long while, Ruby walked with Roman in her arms, hearing nothing but the echo of her footsteps. While the sheer length of this carved out cavern was disconcerting, Torchwick's sudden speechlessness was getting to her more.

Had he fallen asleep? Was he planning something? Did something Ruby say gross him out? Yikes, she didn't want to be grosser than a bad guy.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Ruby asked, looking down at Roman who had been staring at her the entire time.

"I'm just admiring how bright it is." Roman answered easily as he regarded Ruby's eyes.

Ruby glanced up but all she saw was the cave ceiling.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, confused. "What's bright? I don't see anyth—eep!" Roman had pulled himself even closer to her with a smile that made her want to shrink away, self-conscious.

"Say, those fireworks are nice and all but I'm much _prettier._ In fact, I'm way more illegal than any of those teeny things. So—"Roman tilted his head to get a better look at the pink flush spreading across Ruby's face. "—does that mean you like me better?"

"No!" Ruby protested, now acutely aware of the arm draped around her shoulder. Roman had been tempted to touch her long strand of crimson-tinted hair and run his fingers over her chin but just barely stopped himself from giving into the curiosity.

"Then what's it going to take? Not much from what I can see if you already think I look pretty."

"I would like you better behind bars. Or maybe if you were a lot less…bad."

"Red, I can't stop being my bad bad self," Roman laughed, more at ease than he should have been. "And how can I when there are so many pretty things to steal in this big world? The stars are the limit but with someone with eyes like yours…" Torchwick's smile became slyer as he turned Ruby's trick against her. "...who needs stars?"

Ruby's mouth fell open when the understanding of what Roman meant dawned on her. She may have been able to keep herself calm and collected by treating all of this as a crazy surprise mission before but that point was moot.

Violence, monster slaying, and tossing around villains were her expertise. Not the crazy flips her stomach was doing thanks to Roman being…himself.

Now that he had turned the tables in his favor, Torchwick was liking this development more and more. Leaning his face closer to Ruby's, he whispered "Want to chat more? Or chat less? I can think of things with less chatting," It was difficult to keep his pace steady with how he could feel the heat radiating from Ruby's cheeks.

"Quiet." Ruby said through clenched teeth.

"And why should I?" Roman pressed his forehead against Ruby's head, confidence surging through him. "Unless you're we are about to go for less…chatting…?"

Ruby had gone stock still, straining her ears in the lonely cave. Wary, Torchwick did the same and decided that the faint rumbling coming from far behind them couldn't be ignored.

"Shoot, there's no room," Ruby bit her lip. She had to be able to set Roman down and wield Crescent Rose properly if something was coming after them but with where they were, that was going to be impossible. That meant, she had to take a risk.

A loud bang went off in the darkness behind them and Ruby decided that the risk was more than worth it.

"Hold on to me."

Roman had half a second to hug himself completely against Ruby, curling his neck to hide his face in Ruby's chest as she dashed ahead as fast as her semblance could allow her.

The wind howled in Roman's ears and blew out the lighter, blinding them. One misstep and Ruby could grievously injure them both. They could smash against a wall or Ruby could trip and turn them into a smear on the ground but she worked well under pressure and even better when someone else's safety was at stake.

Ruby stumbled at one point, catching herself a sliver before her they ended up rolling. Her heartrate sped up tenfold at the close call and Roman could feel it beating against her chest.

Tentatively, Roman opened his eyes a sliver, feeling them water at the rush of air. To his amazement, he could faintly make out the cave walls surrounding them. It wasn't much but there was moonlight reaching inside the cave and he squeezed Ruby's arm.

Was it meant to show that he was encouraging her or was it only a reflex? Maybe something else? Torchwick couldn't decide.

Whatever the case, Ruby seemed to run faster and suddenly, the air became sweeter and her eyes stung from the full moon's light. The gravelly ground had turned to grass under her feet and wordlessly, she gently set Roman down.

Whistling somewhat shakily at the feat, Roman cracked his aching neck. They were outside under the night sky somewhere woodsy with no signs of civilization in sight.

"Nice going, Red. Got us from nowhere to nowhere." Torchwick started on his backhanded congratulations but Ruby already had his back to him.

She must have been running for longer than Roman had thought. Ruby's posture was slouching and she was breathing hard but nevertheless, she unfolded her scythe, twirled the weapon, and slammed the blade into the ground in her usual combat stance.

The red cape that Ruby always had draped over her shoulders fluttered up from the breeze. It was then that Roman remembered Ruby had been caught directly in that explosion in the shop. Her leggings were singed and the burns that Roman could see made him wince.

Standing between the cave and Torchwick, Ruby waited. The rumbling they had heard was getting louder. At any moment, it was going to emerge from the cave.

"I could start shooting," Ruby strategized, running her hand over the rounds she had stored at her side. "But what if it's—"

Metal glinted at the mouth of the cave and their pursuer emerged.

* * *

 **Author Notes: I don't normally update things this fast and since more tests and project deadlines are coming up for me, I don't think I can squeeze another update in two days like this one.**

 **What to say here? First things first, it's a little shippy but besides some accidental situations and superficial observations, it's still starting on developing. I say 'developing' but I honestly have no direction planned so I'm still hoping for the best. Otherwise, Ruby is usually a socially awkward mess in Volume 1 but got better over time. She's a lot more confident in Volume 2 but this story isn't set there yet. The reason why she's mostly calm and cool here starting out is because this is a tense 'mission' like situation; something that Ruby excels at dealing with.**

 **That's all I have to say about this for now. It's pretty much all I can think of this early in the morning (5AM) so if something else gets caught later, I'll fix or add it**


	3. Chapter 3

It was Cecilia that emerged from the cave, scuffed and burnt in a few places but otherwise upright and stumbling towards Ruby and Roman. The huntress-in-training had thought she had seen a silver glint but all of that running must have tired her out to the point of seeing lights.

"Cecilia!" Ruby called to the faunus, running towards her with an open arm. One step in and she almost tripped. Roman had grabbed a handful of her cape, stopping her from getting any farther. She looked back and for the first time, Ruby saw real fear in Roman's eyes.

Having to drop a sincere 'please' for any reason was difficult enough for Roman without the word tasting sour on his tongue. In comparison, asking for help from anyone like Ruby was the same as voluntarily sticking his hand into a wood-chipper.

But here, injured and defenseless with a tiny poppy standing between him and certain death, Roman would crawl and beg.

"Don't," The crippled Kingpin whispered, green eyes wide. "Please."

Speechless, Ruby turned back to face the mouse faunus who was steadily making her way towards them with a twitch in her smile.

Ruby hadn't just been seeing lights. There really was a silver glint and it was from the suspicious metallic gloves Cecilia had put on catching the moonlight. Taking her attention from those gloves back to Cecilia's face, Ruby realized that the faunus' unnerving grin wasn't for her.

"Cecilia…" Ruby moved slightly to block Roman from Cecilia's view and the faunus' smile fell into a frown. Gripping Crescent Rose tightly, Ruby hoped with all her might. "Can we talk about this?"

The faunus flexed her fingers at her side and her gloves made a crackly noise.

"We did," Cecilia nodded and despite being outside under the cover of a forest, she felt more cornered than ever. "And you said that you wanted to help me. You could help me and so many people if you step aside. Let me take care of that monster. Please."

Roman dug his fingers into Ruby's cape, gripping the red cloth to the point of almost tearing it. This could have been the moment to jump into the conversation and shower Ruby and Cecilia in promises of wrongs being righted. Thing was, Roman could lie until he was black and blue but he knew the difference between someone looking for justice and someone out for blood.

"Red?" He began again, voice hushed and struggling to stay steady.

Ruby heard him but didn't turn back. Swallowing, Ruby shook her head and her heart ached at how Cecilia looked ready to cry.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said, watching Cecilia's slow shift from distraught to enraged. "I know he's done bad things and I know he won't stop. But I can't let you kill him. Despite everything, we can't call him a monster. He's a person and he'll be brought to justice properly."

"Not a monster. He's a person," Cecilia hadn't stopped walking towards the two. "Don't you mean, he's a human? That's why, isn't it?" She screamed and it was so jarring and shrill that Ruby flinched behind her scythe. "I've seen it before. You ignore the crimes of your own but shoot faunus where they stand."

"That's not it at all!" Ruby tried to protest but Cecilia laughed.

"So if that's not it, is it because he's pretty like your fireworks?" Cecilia asked and Ruby's stomach dropped. Roman swore at their bad luck. Of all the times a faunus' keen ears could have eavesdropped on them, it had to have been back in the cave.

"Cecilia, it wasn't—"Ruby started, swinging her scythe just in time to block Cecilia's reach.

"Then you can burn with him!" Cecilia's hiss melded with the clash of her metal laced gloves against Ruby's scythe.

Those gloves had been painstakingly sewn with whatever dangerous scraps Cecilia could piece together. It was meant for stealth missions where the faunus could sneak up on an unsuspecting victim. Not for head on rows but Cecilia blocked out every coherent thought save for fear and anger.

Ruby strained against Cecilia's gloves, her aura almost near depleted by the previous explosion and sprint. When her arms began to buckle, Roman panicked and started to drag himself away from the deadlock.

"No!" Ruby shouted as Cecilia shoved her scythe away to chase after Roman. Grunting with the effort, she swung Crescent Rose back around, slamming the blade in between the faunus and the criminal. Using the scythe's handle as leverage, Ruby lifted and swung herself at Cecilia, kicking the faunus farther away from Roman.

Immediately, Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from the ground and rushed after Cecilia. Aiming to pin her down, the girl slashed at the faunus with the blunt side of her weapon. Cecilia was knocked off her feet and caught a branch to keep from flying away. The branch was shredded in the faunus' grip and she charged back at her enemy.

Ruby parried each punch and grapple Cecilia tried on her and twirled Crescent Rose around herself. It gave Ruby space to work with and kept Cecilia's gloves from grating her skin into ugly chunks but the mouse faunus was unrelenting. Even worse, she had no sense of self preservation.

Though Ruby had experience with this kind of match up thanks to her practice fights with Yang, Cecilia fought with far more abandon. No matter what Ruby tried, Cecilia threw herself towards the sharp edge of the scythe to get at her. It forced Ruby to continually step back, struggling to keep herself from accidentally cutting Cecilia open.

Watching from beside a tree too close to the action for his liking, Roman attempted to pull himself up but shifting even a smidge of pressure on his broken leg felt like he was stabbing swords into his shin. Dragging himself across the grass made him wince the same way.

"If I was planning to go down, it was going to be in a rain of flashing bullets and money. Not getting put down like a broken show horse." Roman found the energy to joke badly though he was breathing almost as hard as Ruby was. He could tell the girl was almost at her limit. The scythe was becoming heavy in her hands and her wounded legs made Roman's own ache in sympathy.

Cecilia, on the other hand, as driven as she was by vengeance and desperation, was worse for wear. All Ruby needed was one more opening and she was the one with huntress training.

Heartbeat pounding in his ears, Roman braced himself and gripped the grass, worming his way closer to the fray.

"Hey rat, get a load of this!" Roman's shout was amplified by the pain that made his vision go white. With a huge gesture, Roman threw a handful of nothing at Cecilia.

The faunus, catching the movement from the corner of her eye, glanced towards Roman and Ruby slammed the side of Crescent Rose into her side. Shouting with the effort of that swing, Ruby sent Cecilia crashing into a tree with a brutal crack. She crumbled into a motionless broken heap against the tree, halting Ruby's heart.

"Cecilia!" Ruby rushed to the faunus as Roman clapped.

"Nice going, Red!" He called to her, sitting back to brushing hand through his orange hair. "You snapped her back better than a mousetrap! Ha, it still took you long enough. Yeah, this is why I hire the kids that hug their pets too hard."

Frantic, Ruby ignored Roman and turned Cecilia over to check if she was okay. Cecilia was rolled on to her back, her eyes empty and staring into nowhere. A stream of blood ran down her forehead and Ruby placed Crescent Rose aside to help her.

"I'm so sorry." Ruby murmured, going on her knees to reach for Cecilia again. The faunus' fingers were trembling and as Ruby leaned over her, Cecilia's eyes refocused and she swiped at Ruby.

Cecilia's gloves tore into Ruby's dress and ripped into her stomach. Ruby's breath caught in the back of her throat. With nothing but the dregs of her aura protecting her, Ruby couldn't stop the blood gushing from her wound or Cecilia when the faunus pushed her aside.

"Huh?" Roman watched Ruby collapse, clutching her jagged gash as she bled out on the grass. Terror ebbed back into him and stammering with words he couldn't piece together, Roman tried to back away.

Cracking her neck, Cecilia wobbly got on her feet. Whether it was because of her injuries or because she wanted to enjoy her moment in power, she took her time stepping over to Roman.

"Wait! Please, wait!" Roman managed, holding his hands up in front of his chest. Suddenly, Cecilia was standing over him with a ravenous glare that gave Roman shivers. "We can negotiate. Figure something out! Wipe that pretty slate clean! There's no need to stoop to violen—AH!" He cried out when Cecilia kicked his chin, knocking him on his back. She dug her heel into the shin of his broken leg next, squeezing out another scream.

"It's scary down there, right? Squashed under someone's boot?" Cecilia asked. Roman's whimpers were music to her ears and she savored the way he was cowering behind his arms.

"Pl-please! I'll d-do any—AH!" Roman needed to stop screaming and come up with anything and everything to get the faunus to stop but it was impossible. Cecilia might as well have been sawing into his bones. Roman's neck was arching from the agony spreading from his leg to his head, feeling like he was being torn to pieces. He reached back, grasping for anything. Anyone. "He—help! HELP!" His voice broke on the word.

Cecilia's face twisted in disgust.

"You're pathetic." She said, taking her foot off of Roman's leg to smash his face.

All at once, everything stopped.

The pain went away. All Roman could feel was a breeze brushing against his face and the elation in his chest at the flash of red.

Ruby, having heard Roman, came to her senses and rammed herself against Cecelia, hard. Stray rose petals fell around Ruby weakly. She followed them, sinking to her knees before she fell over Roman's stomach, straddling the leg that Roman hadn't broken.

It wasn't her semblance that propelled her. That was gone along with her drained aura. The rest was strength from pure force of will and now, it was all spent too.

And Cecilia wasn't done.

The faunus, dragging herself up-right in no time, went towards them. She wouldn't make the mistake of wasting time again.

This was it. The end. Roman was going to die in the middle of nowhere, broken and shamed. Ruby was struggling under her cape, maybe trying to cover her wound. Roman didn't know and thought that it wouldn't make a difference.

"To…Torchwick?" Ruby was struggling to right herself, her breaths fast and shallow. In some form of wordless gratitude, Roman strained to sit himself up and help Ruby do the same. If they were going to die like this, they at least wouldn't go lying down.

Ruby's back was still hunched, leaning her head against Roman's chest. She clutched the lapel of his bloodstained coat with one hand and hid the other under her red cape.

It was then that Roman remembered the first thing Ruby had done when she woke up in the cave. She got on her hands and knees to search through the rubble. That giant red hedge trimmer was already on her at the time. Roman recalled that clearly.

So then, what could she have possibly been looking for?

The answer came to him when Cecilia approached them from behind Ruby.

"I'll make sure—"Cecilia balled her reddened hand into a fist, raising it for one last blow. "—you both rot."

The fist flew down at Ruby and the girl tugged the handle of Roman's cane out into the open, tilted the end up at Cecilia, and fired it from under her cape. The shot hit the faunus' stomach point-blank, thrusting her back several yards.

This time, she didn't hit a tree and she didn't get up.

Acrid black smoke rose up from the barrel of Melodic Cudgel and from the hole that it burned into Ruby's cape.

"Third time's the charm," Roman muttered tiredly. He would have preferred Ruby pulling out that trump card sooner but there needed to be a certain finesse when handling his weapon. At that one moment, Cecilia was too close for a shot to not miss and Ruby's adrenaline drunk wits couldn't come up with another answer. "So, what now, Red? You went through all that effort just to lock me away?" He looked down at Ruby and she slumped against him. "Red?"

That wound was deeper than Roman had first thought. It wasn't apparent to him thanks to that animal menacing them but he was completely drenched in Ruby's blood. His clothes were sodden with it and a pool was gathering around the two of them.

"Red!" Roman shook Ruby a little. The girl groaned and looked up at him. Her cheeks were deathly pale and Roman had to shout again to keep her from drifting off. "Red, don't go falling asleep on me. I know you gave me a lift back there but personally, following up on favors is the worst way to spend an evening."

Ruby couldn't concentrate on Roman's face. It was a confusion of color to her but what stood out the most was all that nauseating red.

Reaching up towards Roman's chin, Ruby asked "Are you hurt?"

Grimacing, Roman laid Ruby against his chest and took off his coat. The whirring in his ears was steadily growing louder, deafening Roman and numbing the pain in his leg as he moved. He couldn't exactly tear through his coat or his shirt with how much strength he had left so he had to settle on tightly tying the sleeves of his coat around the gash marring Ruby's side.

It was all he could do and the blood was still seeping from the cut. Ruby's eyes were half-lidded and he gently tapped her blanching cheek to keep her awake.

Roman wasn't questioning why he was helping her or why it felt like he was the one losing the ability to breathe when it was Ruby who was dying. All that mattered was that Ruby was very small and needed a blood transfusion as soon as possible.

His hands felt useless and empty. All he could do was sit like some drooling idiot, clutching at the girl's clothes and listening to the frail sound of her breathing being drowned out by that whirring. That insane whirring kept escalating as Ruby grew colder.

"Red? Don't give me the silent treatment," Roman tried to get the girl's attention. "Red, you're breaking my heart here."

"Nnn…" Ruby groaned into Roman's shirt, grasping at it. He reached for Ruby's hands but she mumbled again. "No."

"No?" Roman, noticing that he was hugging Ruby too tightly, relaxed his arms as she tried to move.

"Not…red." She turned her head towards Roman, trying to look at his blurry figure. "I'm…"

"You're what?" Roman leaned closer to Ruby, struggling to hear her.

"Ruby."

The meaning of that word didn't hit Roman until he realized that he didn't actually know her real name.

"Huh, a real gem, aren't you?" Roman said, prompting Ruby to squint. Not at him but at the source of the whirring.

A light shined down on them and Roman turned, finding that the whirring wasn't from his terror high but from two approaching aircrafts overhead. They had been scanning the area near town looking for Roman and had been attracted by the smoke from his weapon.

He recognized those carriers. They were the same ones Roman rode towards Vale once. The thief was relieved beyond measure all the way until he peered at the open door and saw a familiar face waving at him from inside the craft. It was the same face that belonged the man who knocked Cecilia's explosive towards him and Ruby back in the shop.

Oh, he wouldn't forget that face.

The carriers found a space between the trees where it could fit nearby and Roman watched them land.

"Ruby? Can you stay awake?" Roman asked. He didn't need her to stay conscious for too long. His men knew if they took longer than six minutes, they'll be six feet under the wrong side of the grass.

Ruby's eyelids felt terribly heavy and she couldn't feel her fingers but she was tenacious. Gripping the arms wrapped around her, she tipped her chin down in a firm nod. Straining her eyes, Ruby focused for long enough to see a small smile.

"Ruby? Can you move?" Roman continued, suddenly tightening his hold on Ruby. "Don't try if you can't."

Ruby could barely clench her teeth now and it took so much effort just to shake her head.

"Good."

Roman unclipped his cane from Ruby's belt.

His men rushed to him with a stretcher, gradually coming to a stop at the confusing sight of their boss cradling the girl that had threatened to cut his head off in the shop. The stretcher was meant for Roman should he have sustained any injuries from the explosion, which he did, but he didn't want it.

"It's one of Beacon's students," He told one of the men that went up to him. "Get her on the stretcher," Though he was baffled, the man knelt to pick Ruby up and found the end of Roman's cane jabbing the underside of his chin. "Carefully."

Gulping, the man motioned for two others to help him carry Ruby to the stretcher.

Roman forced himself up to lean on his cane. His leg still hurt like one ugly mother but Roman clenched his teeth and took the discomfort to keep an eye on little Red. Warily, he watched the others lay Ruby down, pressing dents into his cane as they worked.

One of the hired help was absolutely astounded at how Roman, the preener that he was, ruined his own coat to help this pest. Roman noticed.

"On the off chance we don't get any new info from her, we'll still have a hostage for that rickety old headmaster to cry for," Roman paused when he heard Ruby groaning. "We better have something to plug that nasty leak."

"We do!" The especially apologetic henchman nodded enthusiastically from beside Roman and he released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"I want one of you to go crawl around the woods back there. You'll find an animal carcass that I'd like to have torched. No need to stand around and watch. It can burn down the entire hick side of town for I care. As for you-" Roman narrowed his eyes at the man who accidentally threw the explosive in his face and jabbed a thumb in the direction of Ruby's scythe. "—go get Red's giant can opener. Be quick about it." He said before hobbling after Ruby's stretcher as dignified as he could.

Once they lifted the stretcher into the aircraft and hooked Ruby up to a portable blood transfuser, Roman found that he could bring himself to sit on a seat by Ruby's side. His men wrapped her up as much as they could before leaving Roman and Ruby for the pilot seats. Ruby was mumbling about something Roman couldn't make out, touching the temporary bandages they had wrapped around her injury. Even with the stitching coming later, it was going to scar.

"Sir?" The guilty henchman said after he jumped into the aircraft. The carrier lifted off and the man hit a switch to close the door behind him. Ruby's heavy weapon was in his arms and he was having a hard time keeping it there. Roman kept his gaze on Ruby but signaled for the man to set the weapon in the seat next to him.

For Ruby, warmth was flowing back into her system but she had been too light headed to understand how she managed to float from a forest to a small grey room. Sleep might help her figure it out. Was that a good idea? She could have sworn she was fighting…someone. Did she win? Were they going to be safe? Wait, who's they? Are they okay?

"I'm fine," Roman chuckled at the questions Ruby didn't know she was slurring out loud. "I'm going to be shoving rat poison in every crack I see for a while but yeah, still vaguely alive. What can you do?"

Ruby actually tried to answer him, managing to get out a croak.

"Sleep," Roman said, leaning on the stretcher just in time for the aircraft to hit turbulence. It made Ruby's head bounce up and Roman slipped his hand under her head to cushion it despite there already being a pillow there. He decided to think about insulting the pilots instead of thinking on that oversight. "Huh, you can't trust these idiots to stick a landing into anything but a drainpipe but that's what I'm here for. You trust me, don't you, Red?"

To Ruby's credit, she did wonder if she should believe this voice but her eyes decided for her. They closed and she went limp so fast that it startled Roman. She was breathing steadily at least, making short gasps every now and then in her troubled dreams.

He didn't know how long he kept his palm under Ruby's head but once the scenery below went from green woodsy hills to dark waters, he turned his attentions to the man sharing their space.

"You made a big mistake today," Roman said, scaring the man close to death. "A real bad mistake. Boy, I can still feel your mistake blowing up in my face." He stood, using his cane as a crutch to go fill the space beside the shaking henchman. Roman gripped the small carrier's railing and glared at the red faced idiot. "Then, you flew two noisy planes all over Vale's backyard to track me down and took your sweet time faffing around too?"

"I-it was my mistake, sir!" The man stammered, holding his hands up. Roman hoped he didn't look that sad when he had been knocked on his back. "After the wall collapsed into that cave, we tried digging but someone called the authorities on us. We thought that faunus was digging that hole to get out of town so we rushed out to the forest to find you as quick as we could!"

"And what if that faunus didn't finish that cave? What if I was still stuck in the ground, hmm? Did you think about that? Did the thought ever cross the empty space where your brain's supposed to be?" Roman asked, digging the end of his cane into the man's foot.

"Bu-but you weren't!" The man was wincing, struggling to speak as Roman worked on crushing his bones.

Then, Roman laughed, easing up on the man. More relieved than nervous, the man laughed along with him.

"Oh man, you were lucky," Roman grinned, hooking his cane on his thumb as he thumped the man's shoulder. "And I gotta say, it takes some real nerve to own up to a huge mistake like this."

"Is…that a good thing?" The henchman asked warily.

"You aren't off the hook, if that's what you're asking," Roman replied and the man went stiff. "But trust me, I'll go easy on you."

The man wasn't completely happy with the turn out but if it wasn't the worst thing that could happen, he'll count this as a blessing.

"Thanks, boss," He said. "I really appreciate it."

"Yup, it'll be quick." Roman jabbed a switch on the wall with his elbow, shoved the business side of his cane in the henchman's chest, and shot him out of the aircraft as its doors opened. The guy didn't get the chance to scream before his smoldering body disappeared into the water below.

Roman tapped the switch again to close the doors. It was just him and Ruby in the back of the carrier now. Ruby stirred in her sleep, disturbed by the commotion, tossing her head from one side to the other. Roman limped back to his seat beside Ruby. When Ruby groaned from the pain again, a word jumped out of his mouth.

"Sorry," Roman tsked at that impulse, dwelling on it for a beat. "Feeding fish overpriced food is real annoying business, I know."

Slumping back in the seat, Roman tugged off his gloves. Black material tended to hide stains well but wow did it not make it feel any less gross. He tossed them over by Ruby's folded weapon and rested his hand on her stretcher absentmindedly. It was a shock when a warm hand found his freezing fingers and gripped them tight.

Ruby's brow was creased deep and Roman wondered who she thought he was. One of her friends? That sister she mentioned? A sweetheart?

Deciding to entertain her dreaming mind, Roman placed his free hand over Ruby's and whispered to her.

"I'm right here, Ruby."

He turned several thoughts about this girl over and over as her dreams became peaceful. Ruby's scuffed face was framed by short dirt matted black hair and he could imagine those big silver eyes narrowed at him. Roman entertained the idea of them growing bright like the smile he had seen when Ruby reminisced about those fireworks.

It wasn't bad. It was far from bad. Cute in some ways, gorgeous in others. Roman wasn't sure when he figured that out. Definitely not at first sight and definitely not as late as now.

"Now, what to do?" Roman asked, laying his head next to Ruby's on her pillow. "How should I thank my courageous little Hero?"

In the depths of her deep sleep, Ruby heard the murmurs of sweet words. She squeezed Roman's hand and he squeezed back.

* * *

 **So it's been six whole months. Yikes...Well anyways, let me get these heys, howyadoings, and apologiesforhowfuckinglongthistooks. Ok good! Done with that.**

 **About this chapter, I tend to write something and then prefer to never look at it again so that's what editors are for (xoxos for u). She fixed a bunch of typos but did it at 5AM so there might be some that got through the threshold. More importantly though, we had a talk about characters being in character. She said the final product looks fine but let me tell you, it is difficult and nerve wracking to put characters in situations without references to at least gauge how they'd react. Ruby in a situation where she has to fight someone out to kill her without hurting them for one and Roman in a situation where he literally can not do anything that can help him get out alive. So Ruby's very worried and Roman isn't running his mouth for once. Later, Ruby lost nearly 40% of her blood so she's half delirious and while Roman isn't in danger anymore, he's gone through some shit so it's a little tough for him to feel smart mouthed. That suspension bridge effect is messing with them too. Honestly, the series is still going (at the moment the upcoming one is vol 3 ep 11) so if they happen to get into something like this and act differently, I did this earlier so I can be safely wrong.**

 **On that note, my editor also checked in and asked if this was going to result in a redemption for Roman or a corruption to the crime side for Ruby. It's going to be neither or maybe a really realistic twist on that kind of trope based on their characters. There IS going to be a plot featuring this ship but we all know that Roman is scum. His hobbies are the same things that fill his list of crimes and he's probably a racist (to faunus). I'm pretty sure it's implied that he'll literally kill for nothing too. His polar opposite being Ruby, she's not going to buckle. She's young and changeable and all but ultimately the nicest, sweetest person there is with the strongest of morals. Of course, they aren't going to come out of this the same way they came in. Now I could also be wrong. Maybe in vol 26 of RWBY, Roman is going to be the next pope and Ruby might play music at the ceremony with a guitar she made out of freshly peeled human skin. Who knows. And yet again, I can still safely be wrong because this is before vol 3 ep 11.**

 **So otherwise, if you didn't notice, Roman is totally kidnapping Ruby. That's the focus next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one and I'll be seeing you hopefully before 6 months is up. Aha...**


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